Grant Yates
Grant Yates is the new teacher at Degrassi Community School. He is portrayed by Marc Bendavid. Character History Season 13 In Army of Me, he is the new English teacher, replacing Mr. Townsend, who was taking a leave of absence. He makes a rather interesting first appearance, first looking out the window and then walking on top of the tables while saying how he hopes they can teach other. He explains that he is starting a playwright collective for students with writing potential. He later approaches Tristan Milligan in the hall, who has been left at school by his parents. After asking if he can help him out, Tristan vents to him about the problems in his life. Tristan confesses how he is worried that his parents are going to get a divorce, and Grant recalls he went through the same experience when he was around Tristan's age. Grant offers to give Tristan a lift to his dentist appointment, which Tristan accepts. Zoe Rivas later gets invited into the playwright collective, and Tristan asks Mr. Yates where his invitation is, to which Grant tells him that he didn't invite him because he thought Tristan's writing was poor, clearly offending him. Grant is later addressing the collective in the woods, which is crashed by Tristan. He asks Tristan if he was spying on them, and Tristan admits he was, but only because he wants to be in the group. Mr. Yates makes Tristan think of a poem off the top of his head, and then asks the collective over whether Tristan should be able to join or not. The collective votes him in. Mr. Yates later tells Tristan that he is proud of him because he was testing him in order to prove himself and how much he wanted to be in the group. He tells him that he may just be his favorite student in his class, sparking Tristan's crush on him further. In Everything Is Everything, he is seen in class in the woods with the collective, listening to Zoe's story and then criticizing it. Tristan reads his story next, but Grant tells him his writing is boring and lacks depth. Tristan later tells Grant that he isn't dropping out of the collective, to which seems to surprise Grant. Grant explains he was being tough on Tristan because he didn't want to show favoritism. He tries to explain something to Tristan about a book, but is cut off by the bell. Tristan later reads the book, which is about a student/teacher love affair, which ends up with the male teacher getting castrated and the two being forced apart, only writing love letters to each other. Tristan is unsure how to interpret this. In Hypnotize, he walks in and watches Tristan's musical audition for the Degrassi fashion show as emcee. After his finished performance, he joins in the applause and shouts "Bravo". He also tells Becky and Imogen, who are running it, that they have "an immense talent" before them, referring to Tristan. As he walks away, Tristan thanks him and asks if he can use him for a reference in the future, to which he agrees. He congratulates Tristan again when he is officially landed the spot as emcee. After class, Tristan asks Grant for help in his show work with the writing banter. Grant agrees to help him out, but that if he wants the help today then he needs to go to his apartment since he needs to stay for a delivery. Tristan is clearly nervous, but agrees to it. Grant then asks him not to mention their meeting to anyone since he "doesn't want the other students to get jealous". Tristan assures him that he won't and that it'll be "their little secret". Once at his apartment, Grant takes note of Tristan's blatant nervousness. Tristan tells him how he has just has never been to a teacher's apartment before. Grant tells him to not think of him as his teacher if it helps him and to view him as his "Creative collaborator". He asks him to sit down while he gets them something to drink. He soon brings out absinthe alcohol for them to drink. Grant does a cheers to Tristan as they drink. As some time passes and some drinking, Tristan and Grant talks about his interest in classical movies and stories, such as Gone with the Wind. Grant says how he didn't think anyone his age would have seen the movie. Tristan says that he is not like most people his age, to which he agrees on and pats him on his thigh. Tristan and Yates then stare at one another before sharing a passionate kiss. Tristan quickly apologizes and gets up to leave. However, Grant tells him not to apologize - "not for that". He then kisses him and gets on top of him as they begin to make out. In the heat of the moment, Grant begins to undo Tristan's belt buckle to take his pants off. Panicking, Tristan gets up and runs out of the apartment with a confused Grant watching. In class, Grant wraps the course lesson up and Tristan goes up to him to apologize for leaving so abruptly. Grant, however, acts cold towards him and blows his responses off. When Tristan explains how he didn't expect things to move so fast after one kiss, Grant says how he thought he was "mature", but was clearly wrong. He says what happened is to stay between them to which Tristan agrees. Grant then gives him his notes that he left at his place after running out and reveals how he made some notes for improvement. Tristan tells him how he didn't need to do that. Grant replies with "I know" before leaving. Tristan later goes to Grant's apartment, with Grant opening the door and asking why he is there. Tristan thanks for him for his writing advice and Grant accepts the thank you. When he begins to close the door, Tristan holds it open. He says how he knows he freaked out before, but that was only because he was surprised. Going on, he says how he knows he believes him to be immature, but he isn't and is ready for the next level. He kisses Grant and pulls back, clearly waiting for an answer. Grant answers with "Get in here" as he pulls Tristan into the room and shuts the door. In Out of My Head, Tristan is singing as he walks down the Degrassi halls, clearly happy. Maya teases him about his surprisingly good mood, only for him to blow it off. He opens his locker to find a note from Grant, asking to meet him in the supply closet. Once in there, Yates immediately shoves Tristan against the wall, kissing him passionately. As the two begin to make out and Grant tries taking his shirt off, Tristan goes on about how happy he is and that the past few days have been so wonderful, implying that the two have been having sex for the past few days. When he says how he just wants to shout it from the rooftops, Grant stops to remind him that this is serious and that no one can know what they're doing. Tristan re-assures him that no one will find out what they're doing. Just as they begin resuming their make out session, Grant tells him to come back to his place that night to continue where they left off. Later, Maya Matlin ends up putting the pieces together when seeing Tristan overjoyed for evidenly no reason with a hickey on his neck as Grant comes in fixing his shirt and tie. Knowing such a relationship is illegal, she reports it to Mr. Simpson who questions both him and Grant and starts an investigation. In the parking lot, Tristan sees Grant who has been suspended until the investigation is over and whether or not he can be cleared. He tries insisting how he never said anything and denied anything, but Grant is still furious and puts all the blame on him. After telling Tristan they can no longer see each other, he drives off as a stunned Tristan looks on. Trivia *He is the new replacement for Mr. Townsend after he took a leave of absence. *Grant Yates is one of the six teachers to be crushed on by a student. The other five were Mr. Colby, Daphne Hatzilakos, Matt Oleander, Archie Simpson, and Winnie Oh. *He makes a sexual advancement on a male student, making it the first time a same sex student/teacher relationship took place in Degrassi history. *Grant is the fourth teacher to be in a relationship with a student, the first was Matt, the second was Mick and the third was Ms. Oh. He is also the second teacher whose relationship with a student became sexual. *Grant, like ten other male characters, has sexually assaulted someone: ** He has statutory raped Tristan. **Luke has taken advantage of and gang raped Zoë alongside Neil **Mr. Colby sexually harassed both Lucy Fernandez and Susie Rivera **A random stranger almost molested Wheels in his car while Wheels was hitch hiking. **Liz's mother's ex boyfriend molested her when she was a child. **Jordan held Emma captive in a room and almost raped her **Dean raped Paige at a party **Darcy's rapist spiked teenage girls' drinks at a party and raped Darcy **Mr. Valieri molested Jane as a child **Coach Carson tried to have K.C. have sex with a hooker against his will as well as having him watching porn. **Lovequeen16 almost molested Connor in her car. **Anson almost raped Bianca **Vince forced Bianca into sex on numerous occasions **Asher sexually harassed Clare **Neil sexually harassed Maya and has taken advantage of and gang raped Zoë alongside Luke. Relationships *Tristan Milligan **Start Up: Hypnotize (1335) **Broke Up: 'Out of My Head '(1336) ***Reason: Tristan told Maya about the relationship, causing Yates to get suspended, so he broke things off with Tristan. Category:Degrassi Adults Category:Degrassi Category:Degrassi Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Teacher Category:Minor Character Category:Season 13 Category:Recurring Characters Category:LGBT